The Bite 001: Hello, Alpha-Gal. Goodbye, Cheeseburgers.

Hi there! I’m Dominique — 35, married, living in New Jersey with two amazing stepsons and one wild little 5-year-old boy. If you had “gets taken out by a tick bite” on your 2025 bingo card, congrats, you win. Me? I was just trying to live my life, not become a red meat-fearing, dairy-dodging, accidental vegan. Yet here we are.

Let’s get this out of the way:

I am not a doctor. Not a nutritionist. Not a chef.

And definitely not someone you should take too seriously when it comes to health advice.

I *am*, however, a real human now living with Alpha-Gal Syndrome — which means I became allergic to meat and dairy thanks to a tick with a twisted sense of humor. (Apparently, it injected me with cow sugar. Let that visual sink in.)

This blog is where I’ll share what I’m learning on this very unrequested journey — from what to eat when everything contains gelatin (seriously, why is it in everything?) to what actually tastes decent, how I explain this to confused waiters, and the emotional rollercoaster of suddenly giving up bacon.

I’m not sugarcoating anything.

Except, well, I can’t eat most sugars anymore either. So — yeah.

Come along for the ride. Laugh, cringe, maybe learn something. And please, share tips if you’ve got them. I’m surviving one almond milk latte at a time.